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National Education Conference

Looking outwards

This year’s NUT National Education Conference explored schools’ roles in their communities. Janey Hulme reports.

The NUT’s National Education Conference is one of the highlights of the educational year. This year’s event took place at Stoke Rochford in July, with the theme ‘Schools and communities: responding to new challenges and opportunities’. As always, the 150 delegates enjoyed a weekend of thought- provoking speeches and debate.

After a welcome from NUT President Gill Goodswen, Jo Dibb, Head Teacher of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School (EGA) in Islington, addressed the question: ‘How can schools invest learners with social capital?’

EGA is a comprehensive for girls aged 11 to 16, which achieves consistently excellent results in challenging circumstances. Half the students are on free school meals, 92 per cent are black or minority ethnic, and 22 per cent have refugee or asylum seeker status.

Jo explained that Islington has extremes of poverty and wealth, side by side. When she started at the school, many middle class parents sent their children to local primaries but wouldn’t send their daughter to a comprehensive like EGA. The school lacked pride, and top-performing students felt inferior to counterparts at nearby independent schools. They lacked what Jo called “the confidence of class”.

Jo described how EGA went through a successful process of ‘rebranding’ to instil confidence, changing the way the girls perceived themselves. The name EGA was taken to stand for Every Girl Achieves – without limits!

Sara Bubb, Director of the Sinnott Fellowship and senior lecturer at the Institute for Education, introduced Radhika Bynon from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, and teachers Marcia Clack and Tim Smith, two of the 30 Sinnott Fellows in 2009.

Radhika described how ‘outward facing schools’ operate, creating external links to improve pupil aspiration and attainment. Marcia, from Phoenix High School, west London, and Tim, from Prudhoe Community High School, Northumberland, explained how this works in their schools.

Marcia detailed how she drew local residents to her school (once named in the press as the worst in the country) through courses, classes and clubs. She started a school farm, food co-op and other successful ventures.

Tim introduced family learning activities and a community radio station to build students’ confidence. He also arranged trips for pupils, first to Newcastle, then London and further afield. “It’s about getting them to look wider and look further,” he explained.

Keith Bartley, Chief Executive of the recently abolished General Teaching Council for England, led a discussion about the extent to which the teaching profession shapes its own future. He highlighted Mori research showing that the public trust teachers, but politicians rate along with journalists and estate agents, at the bottom!

Mick Waters, Professor of Education at the University of Wolverhampton, gave an amusing but poignant talk. He compared the amount of data governments collect about schoolchildren to the amount racing experts gather about greyhounds. “With such vast amounts of information, why can’t they work out which dog will win?” Mick asked. “If we stopped collecting data on children and schools we would have more time to teach!”

David Edwards, Senior Policy Analyst for the National Education Association of America (NEA), spoke about the implications – many negative – of President Obama’s reforms for education nationally and internationally.

Summing up, NUT General Secretary Christine Blower warned that if new Education Secretary Michael Gove was successful in forcing through his ideology, it could mean the end of state education as we know it. She urged delegates to work together, within their communities and across unions, to defend comprehensive state schooling.

This year’s NEC was the last for John Bangs, NUT Assistant Secretary for Education, who was instrumental in establishing the event. He is moving on to work with Cambridge University, the Institute of Education and Education International. Reflecting on two decades of the conference, he thanked the many staff and speakers who have helped make it such a success over the years.